U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Research Coverage Started at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a peer perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

USB has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $68.00 price objective on U.S. Bancorp in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.19.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $60.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $94.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.93 and its 200-day moving average is $58.00. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $45.02 and a 1-year high of $66.07.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.02. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $8.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gunjan Kedia sold 27,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.37, for a total value of $1,700,642.79. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 426,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,585,960.94. This represents a 6.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, John Boyer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is a financial services holding company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. U.S. Bank provides banking, lending, payment, investment and wealth-management services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

The company’s consumer and business banking operations offer deposit accounts, mortgages, home-equity and consumer loans, credit cards, small-business banking and commercial lending.